Chapter 92. The Meeting Begins
"Why does this little turtle have a clove of garlic on its back?
A garlic-headed turtle—kinda cute."
"Seele likes this one.
Brother says this is called Eevee, and later it can evolve into the very cute Sylveon~"
"This Groudon looks too ferocious.
How about I color it pink?"
"..."
While writing the design document, Xander listened with half an ear to the three girls chatting not far away.
At first it was fine.
He listened with relish and nodded from time to time.
But gradually their thoughts leapt past his textual descriptions and began to run wild.
When he heard Kaguya suggest a pink Groudon, his typing hand jolted, and a smooth sentence instantly turned into a string of gibberish.
If both Groudon and Kyogre turned pink, then when they fought later...
Tsk.
The mental image was too beautiful; he didn't dare look!
But in that case, would Rayquaza go easier on them when it beat them up?
A moment later he realized his own mind had also wandered.
He quickly shook his head to scatter the distractions.
Bad.
He'd let himself get dragged in.
Focus, focus!
Even though their discussion was getting more and more ridiculous, Xander didn't actually step in to stop them.
They didn't have his concrete impressions of many Pokémon.
He hoped those lively imaginations could bring more unexpected surprises to this game.
They definitely couldn't slack off like that IP-holding company from his previous life, right?
Cocolia had only given them half a month.
On top of that, they'd have to go with her to Anti-Entropy's Americas headquarters when the time came.
So of course the four of them refunded their return tickets.
They couldn't waste time on traveling.
Along with that, they requested a short leave from school.
Winter break wasn't that long, and they probably wouldn't have time to go back the week before classes resumed.
After a week, the once lively orphanage returned to its usual daily rhythm.
The children trained if they were scheduled to train and went to school if they were scheduled to go to school.
Aside from noon and evening, it was hard to hear laughter in the yard anymore.
Cocolia had already gone back early to Anti-Entropy headquarters.
As the group's number two, a pile of work was waiting for her to handle.
Those kids who had come back for the holidays also returned to their respective places.
Xander was happy for the quiet.
Without others disturbing him, he could devote more energy each day to perfecting his design document.
For that thing to be born, he had to do everything in his power to make it the best it could be!
Each day, aside from eating, he worked.
When he got tired, he lay down on Aponia's lap pillow to rest for a bit.
When he got sleepy, he picked one at random from Seele, Duckie, and Kaguya to hug as he slept.
His eat-sleep-work routine was so intense that Kalpas thought Xander had gone off the deep end and lost his marbles.
From time to time he would come over to take a look, bringing snacks he had made himself.
At first the three girls still worried about Xander's health.
But after Bronya and Kaguya read the prototype of his design document, they were rendered silent on the spot.
Th-this kind of thing...
Standing behind Xander and looking at his fully focused silhouette, Bronya's eyes were full of complicated emotion.
She had once thought knocking out a plan for Hollow Knight that quickly was already unmatched.
Only now did she realize that for her lover, that was merely the tip of the iceberg.
She really wanted to pry open his head and see what on earth was going on inside...
Frightened by her own scary thought, she shivered, then looked furtively left and right like a thief.
Seeing no one was watching her, Bronya finally let out a breath.
Kaguya didn't look any better than Bronya.
She knew very well that if this plan were truly realized, combined with AR glasses it would explode with incredible power.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it could tangibly change the current landscape of games!
So this was her own husband.
Truly terrifying.
Only Seele was full of question marks.
The three of them had originally planned to come over together to persuade Brother to rest.
But after Brother handed them a file, Bronya-sis and Kaguya-sis fell silent the moment they finished reading it, and never mentioned persuading Brother to rest again.
Anyway, it was less than a week left.
Tired was tired.
Worst case, they'd just stay up with him.
Finally, the night before heading to Anti-Entropy headquarters arrived.
The meeting would be held the day after tomorrow.
Only then did Xander stop.
He looked at the PowerPoint Hatsune had finished and nodded in satisfaction.
He adopted a few of the more inventive colored character illustrations the girls had done, while shelving the ones that were a bit too inventive—not to discard them, but to save them for the artbook later so everyone could have fun.
He had written everything that could be written and publicly shown into this plan as meticulously as possible, even touching on the operations model.
Just making this plan alone had already cost him an amount of effort no less than creating two or three To the Moon-s.
He leaned back in his chair.
Fatigue washed in together with a sense of contentment.
He stretched long, looked at the pitch-black night outside the window, and slowly stood up.
It was late at night again.
He was clearly exhausted, but he was too excited to sleep.
On the bed, Kaguya and Bronya were already lying there.
Without the Xander-brand body pillow, the two could only hold each other.
Only Seele was lying on the desk beside him.
A light sleeper, she opened her eyes at the sound and pushed herself upright.
"Brother?"
Her voice was a little drowsy.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Seele looked at her brother who had stood up.
"Is it do...ne..."
She tried to stand, but after sleeping bent over like that, her legs were numb.
The moment she stood, she fell into Brother's arms.
"Careful."
Patting Seele's head, Xander laughed and held the giggling Seele.
The scare woke Seele up a bit.
Braced against Brother, she steadied herself, then looked at him and said, "Brother, are you finished?"
"Mm.
More or less.
Thanks to you girls for the help~"
"Seele didn't do much.
Bronya-sis and Kaguya-sis are way better than Seele."
She nuzzled Brother's chest, savoring the warmth wrapping her, and felt sleepy again.
"You're all very important to me."
"..."
He lowered his head, wanting to give Seele a peck, but saw her eyes slowly closing.
He couldn't help but smile.
He kissed her lightly on the forehead, carefully carried her to the bed, lay down, and nudged off his slippers.
He had already washed up and changed into pajamas earlier, so there was no need to bother with that now.
Maybe his movement was a bit big; Kaguya was stirred awake and opened her hazy eyes.
She turned and saw Xander's profile, then noticed she was currently hugging Bronya.
Without thinking, she immediately let go, rolled over, and hugged her husband instead.
Wrapped in that familiar scent, Kaguya showed a satisfied expression.
Having lost her body pillow, Bronya frowned in her sleep.
Her hands groped lightly a few times, then she hugged the quilt and sank back into deep slumber.
The next morning, the earliest sleeper, Bronya, was the first to open her eyes.
She rubbed away the tear at the corner of her eye from a yawn and tossed aside the quilt in her arms.
It was morning.
Time to help Xander bring breakfast...
But as soon as she sat up, she saw the scene around her.
Seele and Kaguya were each being held on one side by Xander.
The three of them were sleeping soundly together.
"?"
She looked at the quilt she had thrown aside, then at Kaguya and Seele leaning comfortably on Xander.
Bronya felt her fists clench.
...
"Bronya-sis, what's wrong?"
On the private jet Cocolia had arranged to pick them up, Seele looked curiously at Bronya-sis, who seemed a little sulky.
"Nothing."
Could she say she was unhappy because she felt left out?
As an older sister, saying that in front of Seele would be too embarrassing.
"Shh~"
Just then, Kaguya hushed softly, signaling them to lower their voices.
Private jets had beds for passengers to rest.
With the fatigue built up over these days, Xander soon fell asleep in Kaguya's arms after taking motion-sickness medicine.
Naturally, they couldn't let anyone disturb his rest.
Seele and Bronya got the message and immediately closed their mouths, staring with envy at Kaguya's gentle expression.
They'd missed their chance.
Kaguya got there first.
A few hours later, the plane landed.
Anti-Entropy HQ had arranged a car to meet them right at the disembarkation spot.
Besides the driver, there was a short-haired girl with two-tone hair—left pink and right purple—dressed androgynously, with shark-like teeth.
She sat in the front passenger seat, scowling, blue left eye and golden right eye glaring at Xander, who was surrounded by three cute girls in the middle.
That bastard.
Still the same, huh.
Xing·Maer—that was the girl's name.
Like Xander and Seele, she was also a child who grew up in the orphanage.
She had even come to the orphanage earlier than Bronya.
But because of her personality—arrogant and attention-seeking—she had a hard time getting along with others.
She was jealous of Xander, who could become the center of the children.
She was jealous of Seele, who could trail behind Xander's heels.
But what annoyed her most was that Bronya.
She was clearly the latest arrival, yet she stuck to Xander like an adhesive patch, and in a short time their relationship became better than Xing's and Xander's.
Most crucially, that attitude of looking down on everyone...
(Duckie: Don't force a smear, okay? Back then I was just "three-no," not looking down on anyone!)
In the end, she couldn't stand it anymore and tried to ambush Bronya.
She got caught and ended up getting beaten up instead, which broke child-Xing on the spot.
After graduating from middle school, Xing finished high-school coursework early and chose to follow Cocolia Mom, helping her with Anti-Entropy business—and also to get away from the orphanage, that place of heartbreak.
Today she heard Xander's group was coming.
She hadn't even gone back for the New Year and didn't want to show up, but seeing the gaggle of young girls fighting over who got to pick them up annoyed her for some reason, so she just took the task herself.
"Xing?!"
Once they got in the car, the sharp-eyed Seele immediately noticed the person in the front passenger seat and cried out in surprise.
"Mm?!"
Seele's voice made Bronya and Xander raise their heads, looking curiously at the girl in the front seat with folded arms and an impatient look.
"Long time no see, Xing."
Xander had always gotten along well with Xing, so he waved with a smile.
This brat might look proud and arrogant and speak with a sharp tongue, but as long as you humored her, she was actually easy to talk to.
And she really listened to Cocolia Mom.
She was a pretty cute kid, all things considered.
"Mm."
With Seele and Xander being among the few friends she acknowledged in her heart, Xing nodded to them both.
"Long time no see."
Bronya also offered a greeting, but Xing just snorted after a glance and turned her head away.
That left Bronya, hand half-raised, with an embarrassed face.
She looked at Xander beside her, a little aggrieved.
Through the rearview mirror, Xing saw this and let out a scornful snort.
Had Bronya gotten so lame that she needed to seek comfort from Xander over such a trivial jab?
Seriously...
Her train of thought was interrupted by what she saw in the mirror, and Xing's eyes widened.
Xander patted Bronya's head, then lowered his head and kissed her on the lips.
From how practiced it looked, clearly this had happened countless times.
Wait—she'd only been away for a year.
How had things gotten to where she couldn't understand the situation at all?
And why Bronya?
If you're talking about who liked Xander more, obviously it was Seele who—
Right then, something even harder to parse happened.
Seeing Brother kiss her sister, Seele also snuggled into Brother's arms, and under Xing's incredulous gaze, the two of them kissed as well.
"???"
Kaguya was directly ignored.
She wasn't from the orphanage and not worth Xing's attention.
With a bewildered expression at everything in front of her, three classic philosophical questions suddenly popped into her head.
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
Seele was one thing.
But even Bronya too?
Together?
And neither of them objected?!
Especially with Bronya's proud personality?!
Her scalp tingled.
She felt like a brain was about to grow in there.
Xing could not comprehend.
She tried to imagine it: if she had a lover and that lover kissed someone else right in front of her...
Oh, she would absolutely put a few holes in that lover with a gun.
She swore.
After dropping the four of them at Anti-Entropy's most luxurious guest reception, the driver left with Xing, who still couldn't figure it out.
Because of the time difference, it was still morning here.
They had no plans to go out.
After eating something simple, the four returned to their room.
They checked the PowerPoint, played a round of strip-penalty cards, and after everyone ended up with not much of anything on, they naturally soaked in the suite's private big bath.
They relaxed their minds, enjoyed the girls' special massages, then lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep together.
Early the next morning, the group arrived at Anti-Entropy headquarters.
The meeting was about to begin.
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